On embodiment relates to tobacco products, and more particularly to a tobacco kit product enabling an end user or consumer to prepare a custom tobacco product. The variety, quality and size of ready-made cigars and/or cigarettes satisfy the majority of the public. However, a small segment of connoisseurs insist that nothing can compare with the taste and smell of custom-blended tobacco products. These knowledgeable individuals are very selective in the manner their tobacco products are rolled and in the grade of tobacco used. A still smaller segment of aficionados prefers to roll their own tobacco products. They buy tobacco leaves or cigar wrappings and use their preferred brand of crushed tobacco. Some people buy inexpensive cigars, cut them with a sharp blade along the side, and carefully pry the cut cigar open. The innermost layers are then removed and substituted with a favorite brand of crushed tobacco, which may come from cigarettes or bulk tobacco blend. The user then brings the cut edges of the cigar together, closing the outer layers of the cigar over the “stuffing.” The edges are then sealed with a liquid or honey, and a new cigar is ready for smoking.
Some reports indicate that the roll-your-own tobacco market is flourishing. In some countries, the roll-your-own products now hold a substantial share of the tobacco market, and their consumers represent more than 10% of the smoking population. This may be explained by the ability of a consumer to create a tailor-made product, as opposed to commercially available types of tobacco products.
A disadvantage of the existing method of making such custom-made tobacco product is that a consumer has to be skillful in the rolling of tobacco products, that is to have a certain finger dexterity, which would allow him to make a tobacco product shell without crushing the item being used to make the tobacco product. Inexperienced people often become frustrated when the finished product collapses because the tobacco product was not properly rolled.
In the prior art there are various items which assist consumers in making customized cigars. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,742,525 discloses a “tobacco product . . . formed by rolling a sheet of material supplied by a roll or rolls (e.g. moistened tobacco leaves) and/or homogenized sheet tobacco about a slit mandrel to form a shaped tube. The shaped tube is then packaged for shipment to an end user or consumer. The shaped tube remains in the rolled, shaped tube form inside the package. After the shaped tube is removed from the package, a consumer can fill the tube with crushed tobacco leaves or other tobacco filler material of a favorite blend, thereby eliminating some steps in the making of a “roll-your-own” tobacco product.” ('525 patent: Abstract).
As another example, United States printed publication number US 2006/0000481 discloses a cigar with perforations allowing the cigar to be easily opened by a user who wishes to replace the original tobacco filler material with a custom tobacco filler material. ('481 Publication: paragraph 0044).
However, even though such prior art systems provide systems assisting individuals with limited finger dexterity in making custom made tobacco products, some amount of finger dexterity is still required at least when starting the rolling process. Additionally, these prior art systems tend to require the user to seal the rolled tobacco product along the longitudinal length of the tobacco product to stop the product.
Furthermore, the perforated cigar disclosed in the '481 Publication has the disadvantage that the perforations can open before use causing tobacco filler material to be released and/or creating air flow openings in various positions about the longitudinal length which can short circuit air flow during smoking.
It would be advantageous to provide a tobacco product which avoids the disadvantages of the prior art.
While certain novel features of this invention shown and described below are pointed out in the annexed claims, the invention is not intended to be limited to the details specified, since a person of ordinary skill in the relevant art will understand that various omissions, modifications, substitutions and changes in the forms and details of the device illustrated and in its operation may be made without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention. No feature of the invention is critical or essential unless it is expressly stated as being “critical” or “essential.”